Martha, Josie and the Chinese Elvis - Review

The Woolly Mammoth Theater is 265 seat venue in the Penn Quarter area of Washington, DC. The theater is so small that virtually every seat is a good seat.

I took the Mrs. to go see Martha, Josie and the Chinese Elvis at the Woolly Mammoth Theater. We attended the Sunday matinee show. About half the seats were sold. The show was competing with a Redskins game, beautiful, spring-like weather in November, and Thanksgiving weekend shoppers and vacationers.

Set in Bolton, England, a working-class town north of London, the play is about Josie, a dominatrix who reluctantly celebrating her 40-th birthday, and reconsidering her career options. The cast contains a series of whacky characters, including Martha, the obsessive compulsive house cleaner, Lionel, a regular customer, Brenda Marie, Josie’s mentally challenged daughter, Shelley Louise, Brenda Marie’s twin sister that has returned for the birthday celebrations and Timothy Wang, the Chinese Elvis impersonator.

The play is a dramady - part drama, part comedy. There are a number of serious moments, broken up by comedic activities.

Why did I want to go see the play? I figured any play featuring an Asian-American Elvis impersonator had to be funny. And I really wanted a good laugh. But wait, there is more! Tony Nam, a Korean American immigrant, plays Timothy Wang, a Vietnamese boat refugee living in Bolton, England and impersonating a Chinese Elvis. Did you follow all that? And where else but in America will you find a Korean American immigrant portraying a Vietnamese boat refugee turned Elvis impersonator with a fake, working class British accent?

The show is an incredible emotional ride. You laugh, you cry (or at least the Mrs. did), you experience highs and lows, and you are never quite sure how things will end.

The only thing I would change about the play is moving the location from Bolton, England to Washington, DC or the local city of the production. American actors trying to use fake working-class British accents didn’t work. I think it would have worked much better if the play was set locally and the actors used local accents. More people would be able to better comprehend and relate to the story and characters.

If you are looking for some good laughs mixed with some intense drama, go see the show.